Queen Mary Students' Union Impact Report 2013/14

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Q U UE S NI E T U VE N D R M E S A N IT R T S Y Y ’ U OF N I O LO N N

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introduction Queen Mary, University of London Students’ Union is a registered charity with a turnover of over £5million. Over the past five years the Union has gone from strength to strength seeing record levels of student engagement, increased funding and creating an improved student experience.

Through collaboration, representation, campaigns and activities the Union has had some big successes in 2013/14. Some of the key successes highlighted in this impact report include a new strategic plan, a large increase in the number of students involved in societies and an award-winning bar.

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overview of the union The Union is constantly developing and making changes to ensure it’s delivering a great experience for students. It has been an exciting year for the Union’s democracy and strategic development, as it reached unprecedented levels of engagement.

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Union Elections - More students than ever before took an active role in deciding who they wanted to lead the Union in 2014/15. 2733 students (21% of the student body) went online and voted in one of the Union’s most exciting elections.

QM Skills Award - TThe Union continued to develop the QM Skills Award which saw 193 students take part. This skills development programme recognised the hours students volunteered in Union activities, gave them additional training opportunities and a chance to reflect on the skills they gained.

Advocacy - The Union was able to support 405 student cases through the Academic Advice Service. These are typically cases and enquiries around academic appeals, extenuating circumstances, assessment officers and fitness to practice.

A NEW STATEGIC PLAN As a registered charity with a multi-million pound turnover the Union needs a clear direction. The Union felt strongly that this direction needs to be led and influenced by students and that’s why the Union made sure students were consulted when creating its new three year strategic plan.

To create the first draft of the strategic plan the Union conducted research through surveys and focus groups. This helped to determine what students wanted from their Union. This plan went through a considerable amount of consultation and a student referendum which overwhelmingly supported the new plan. The Board of Trustees approved the new strategic plan on the 18 March 2014.

The Union’s new mission is: ‘To improve students’ lives’ The Union’s new vision is: ‘For all students to feel part of a Queen Mary community where they can develop, are supported and can make changes on issues that affect them.’

Over the next three years the Union aims to achieve this by helping to develop a student community, providing better representation, helping students to become more employable and communicating to students in effective and engaging ways.

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changing the university One of the key purposes of the Union is to improve QMUL. Some of this work is done through the Education Zone (working to improve the quality of students’ education) and the Welfare Zone (working to improve student life in areas such as access, finance, and equality of opportunity).

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Space Audit - The Union audited teaching space usage. The findings led to QMUL releasing space used for teaching within the Union building and agreeing to devise a process allowing students access to empty rooms for private study and revision.

Mock examination papers for new & revised courses/modules Student Council approved a motion calling for a new policy on exam preparation materials for new courses/units in S&E and HSS. Student Officers subsequently achieved agreement that in future at least 2 practice papers should be created.

Time to Change Pledge - As a result of a motion passed at Student Council, the Union was successful in lobbying QMUL to sign the Time to Change pledge. This means QMUL has committed to tackling mental health stigma and discrimination.

RIGHT TO PRAY This academic year QMUL took the decision to remove provision of space for Muslim Friday Prayer, arguing that they were under great constraints in terms of teaching space. This decision left over 2,000 students without a place to perform Friday Prayer within their institution.

Representing a large proportion of Muslim Students at QMUL, the Islamic Society, with support from the Union, decided to take action.

The Right to Pray campaign was launched in October; its aim was to bring to QMUL’s attention the need for them to provide a suitable venue that could accommodate 500+ students, catering for men and women, as well as a commitment for this to be made a permanent slot every Friday.

This was a priority for the Union as it believed

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that QMUL should be a place where students can grow and develop academically, personally, morally and spiritually.

Locally the campaign achieved its aim; it alerted the senior management of QMUL and the Principal to the need to provide a space for Friday prayer. QMUL has now made provisions where possible to accommodate and has also promised to include this in their planning of teaching for the future. Also QMUL also saw different faith groups come together to show support.

activities The Union supported 187 societies, across 7 distinct categories being led by 320 principal officers. The Union also has a large number involved in our two student-led RAG fundraising groups which raise thousands of pounds for the Union’s chosen local and national charities each year.

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Society Members - The Union has affiliated more societies than ever and has increased its engagement to over 4,500 individual members. This equates to over 25% of QMUL students, with many joining several societies meaning total membership stood at over 8000.

Games and Video Gaming - Games & Video Gaming were awarded ‘Most Improved Society’ by regularly giving hundreds of students the chance to socialise or even compete in tournaments with the latest games and consoles and make new friends over table top games.

Jailbreak - Jailbreak saw QM & BL RAG work together to give students just 36 hours to get as far from Queen Mary as they could by hitchhiking and blagging their way across the UK & Europe. Over £3000 was raised for the RAG charities, in just one event.

LAW’S YEAR The Union Law Society reached an all-time high in 2013/14, thanks to the hard work and dedication from the committee they become the largest society of the Union with 437 members.

Their annual Negotiation competition saw over 200 competitors who were offered the opportunity to win valuable work experience at a top London law firm. This, along with their range of career events and the Law Journal, that offered members a chance to showcase their writing skills, helped members to learn crucial skills to aid them beyond their degree. Socially they created male and female football teams and enjoyed success against other London Society and City law firms.

The society crowned the year off with the first ever Law Ball. With a budget of £30,000 it was by far the largest Union society event to take place and was a chance for students to wine and dine, network with some of the largest law firms in the country and let their hair down after a year of hard work. Through hard work the society raised over £10,000 in sponsorship and were able to subsidise this event heavily for their members. As a result of all this and more, the Law Society were awarded Union Society of the Year at the annual awards.

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activities Volunteering provides 3 streams of volunteering opportunities for more than 1,000 registered students to make a difference in the community through charities and non-profit organisations. The Union also has 7student media outlets, 3 of which were established this year.

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Increase in One Day Opportunities - 45 one day projects took place in Tower Hamlets and across London involving 28 partner organisations, and led by 9 student leaders. 3150 volunteering hours were completed by 482 student opportunities.

Volunteering Group Expansion - Two new volunteering groups were started in 2013/14, adding to the already diverse range of student-led groups on offer. Project Play involved 20 BL students who offered a programme of play activities for children in A+E at the Royal London Hospital and the Homework Club offered Year 7 students in the East London Science School support with Maths and English development.

Student Media - Record numbers have been involved in the student media this year. Just over 300 students have been involved writing, producing and editing a wide range of content.

LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMME The J.P. Morgan funded Lifeskills Programme, run in conjunction with the National Children’s Bureau, empowered QMUL students and local young people (aged 14-17) to make a positive impact on their local community, Tower Hamlets.

The Union Volunteering trained 36 students in leadership and project management skills and they were then placed with 6 local Tower Hamlets organisations to deliver community projects with the young people. Just under 200 young people were involved in the programme, developing key life skills for employment and life-long learning culminating in all participants receiving an ASDAN award and raising aspirations through participating in on-campus opportunities. The volunteers involved in the

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programme experienced unique opportunities for skill development and career progression.

15 students visited the J.P. Morgan head offices and pitched their project ideas to a panel of employees for advice and recommendations for improvement, whilst some decided that their future career would now focus around developing young people.

The 13 projects included running a community sports tournament, renovating a youth centre, creating a memory book about the area with older people and running family fun days.

sports & fitness Sport is made up of Qmotion, the Health and Fitness Centre, Club Sport, competitive sports programs, Get Active, the recreational sport programme, and Community Sport which allows students to get involved in their local community.

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Sport England Funding - In June 2014 the Union managed to secure ÂŁ179,000 of funding from Sport England to help increase participation within sport for students. This will allow the Union to introduce new activities within Get Active.

Gifted and Talented Programme - Qmotion created a gifted and talented programme, which recruited athletes from QM and the local community, providing them with Strength and Conditioning, sports medicine, sport psychology, and sports nutrition support.

Olympic Venues for Club Sport and Get Active Sessions Club Sport and Get Active have managed to secure numerous Olympic venues and facilities for the students to use when participating in their respective sessions. This will ensure that the Olympic Legacy is maintained here within QMUL.

COMMUNITY SPORT PROGRAMME In September 2013, the Union launched the Community Sport Programme. The vision of this programme was to support students in developing skills and employability through sport whilst providing a benefit to young people in the wider community by increasing access to sporting opportunities. The Union secured funding from the Centre of Public Engagement for this programme’s pilot year.

The Union also delivered a variety of Holiday camps which engaged 29 young people within the local community. Over the Easter and Summer holidays the Union held 5 day sports camps and performing arts camps for children aged from 9-13 years. The Union utilised instructors from the Community Coaching programme, and Drama Students from the QM Theatre Company.

Over the year 29 students have become engaged in coaching; this equates to 610 hours of community sport being provided, which were in a variety of sports, ranging from football to cheerleading.

Throughout the year positive links have been made with a number of local organisations such as Tower Hamlets Youth Sports Foundation, Local Schools, GLL, Tower Hamlets Council and the Mile End Community Project.

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commercial services The Union runs a range of venues, cafes and shops to both provide a service to students and to generate income to support the activities of the Union. The venues have continued to benefit from a diverse events programme with over 30,000 visits to events at Drapers Bar & Kitchen alone.

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Events and Venues - The Union provided a diverse events programme of 229 events, activities, theatre trips and day trips within 10 months. 84 of these events were promoted as non–alcohol events, up 56 events on last year.

Cafes - The Union Cafes contributed towards creating student communities through the reinvestment of a part of the operating surplus into Arts and Culture Fund, set up to support art and cultural activities at QMUL. Money for the Fund is generated by customers’ spending in the Union run Learning Café.

Retail - The Union shops in response to student feedback froze lots of prices whilst introducing new niche international products and value for money promotions. 2013/14 saw the launch of the new online shop (www.qmsu.org/onlineshop) so existing students and alumni can buy their favourite branded items.

A GREAT YEAR FOR VENUES The summer of 2013 saw Drapers Bar & Kitchen’s second room transformed from a club night only overspill area of the venue into Drapers Lounge.

This is a multi-purpose space where students can socialise and study during the day, or book for a student group activity in an evening. Drapers Lounge has played host to quizzes, performances and society meet and greets. It’s now a space that truly can be used for anything!

The Griff Inn and Drapers Bar & Kitchen enjoyed critical acclaim in the last academic year, with both licensed outlets receiving accreditation from the NUS run Best Bar None scheme. This is an industry geared program designed to ensure late night venues are operating responsibly and in the best interests of their customers.

In addition to this, at the Ents Forum in July, Drapers Bar & Kitchen walked away with ‘Best Student Venue (Under 1,000 capacity)’ beating off fierce competition from around the country.

Across The Griff Inn and Drapers Bar & Kitchen the

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Union employed over 80 bar and kitchen student staff, promoting ten of these to the position of supervisor. The venues customers enjoyed over 29,000 pints of Carlsberg, over 23,000 Jagerbombs while from the kitchens the Union sold 2,500 portions of homemade Southern Fried Chicken and the towering New Yorker burger was enjoyed by 1,200 customers.

conclusion The newly elected Executive Officers are eager to fulfil their manifestos and look to make 2014/15 every bit as exciting as 2013/14. Some of the highlights for the coming year include increased investment in student activities, communications and marketing and increased emphasis on employability.

The Union is looking forward to implementing the new strategic plan and seeing how it will make a positive impact in students’ lives across the different campuses of QMUL. The Union would not be what it is without the engagement of thousands of students. If you want to get involved in any of the opportunities available go to www.qmsu.org.

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